Tom McMasters-Stone

Look it up

Look it up. Three simple words, yet words you will never hear a Republican politician utter after s/he gives a speech, or makes a television appearance.

Do Democrats lie? I am sure some of them do, but not to the extent that it should be listed on their resume’ as a full-time job.

I fact check everything I write on these pages, and if I made a mistake, I would own it and apologize — but it hasn’t happened yet.

In doing my fact-checking, the Democrats vs. Republican lies are not as bad as the lopsided 49ers score against the Chargers (35-3), but it has been damned close. Beyond the lies, there also the convenient claims they make that cannot be proven one way or the other.

Mitt Romney says that the President has allowed millions of workers off the work-for-welfare rolls. The number of workers Obama has actually allowed off the rolls? Zero. What POTUS has done is given Governors, including many Republicans, at their request, more flexibility in dealing with their individual welfare programs. Look it up…

The Mittster also claims that we are not better off than we were four years ago. While technically correct, shave off the first few months of the Obama administration, and there has been a steady, albeit smaller than we had hoped for, increase in jobs and the economy. Look it up…

While you are at it, look up the eight years of job decline under Bush II- after Clinton left the country in great shape.

In 2009, the stock market hovered around 6500. It is now hovering around 12,500. Look it up…

The Republicans are blaming Obama for the “failed” bailout plan. Uh, the bank bailout took place under Bush II. Look it up. Granted, TARP, which DID occur under Obama, has not been as successful as we would have liked, but the results have been positive even so- and it would have been even more successful if the Republicans had not insisted on making a full 1/3 of it be tax cuts. Look it up…

The GM plant that Paul Ryan says closed because of Obama? It was shut down before Obama was even sworn in, and was slated for closure in June of 2008. Look it up…

Mitt Romney says he created 100,000 jobs at Bain Capital. Unprovable. And does that include subtracting the jobs lost breaking up, selling, and closing some of the companies he dealt with? Can’t look it up…

Ann Romney says their first desk was a door on two sawhorses. Unprovable, but I don’t believe it for a second. Can’t look it up…

Paul Ryan says we should not pay attention to his positions on things, because Mitt Romney is at the head of the ticket, and will set policy. Unprovable. However, we can pretty safely guess what will happen when one of the Tea Partiers in the Senate filibusters some of his grand, mostly-unknown-to-us plans- the Mittster will move further to the right to get his 60 votes.

I am tired of hearing about abortion. It’s the law of the land, under Roe vs. Wade, and that’s not likely to change, short of a Constitutional Amendment — but look for that to be put forth in a Romney Administration. Yes, various State governments are placing outrageous restrictions on women seeking abortions, but I am hopeful that the Federal court system will resolve those issues, and put those morons in their places. That being said, there must be a compromise in their somewhere, around three to four months for elective abortions.

As I have said before, one of the most devout Christians I have ever met told me that he did not believe “human life” began at conception, because most pregnancies self-terminate, and his God would not take more than half of all human beings away before they even got out of the hangar.

More than half of the states do not have laws preventing rapists from getting parental rights to their child. Look it up — I think the actual number is 33.

I am also tired of hearing about the life/potential life as being the “victim.” What about all those young victims of rape or incest who are dreaming of college, a career, waiting for Prince or Princess Charming to come along and sweep them off their feet, and wanted to wait until their late 20s to have kids, adopt, or have in vitro done? And we all know that Republicans are not pro-life, they are pro-birth, as they always vote against the social programs that would provide for some care and health for poorer, newborn, unwanted children — and wanted ones as well.

And let’s not forget that, 600 years after Christ, Constantine convened a conference to decide which gospels were going to be included in the Bible, omitting many, including ones by Mary and Mary Magdalene. WTF? You left out a gospel penned by Christ’s mother? Look it up…

Paul Ryan told an interviewer that his best marathon time was “Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something.” Turns out it was four minutes and one second. That sounds like the difference between what he says his budget would do, and what it would ACTUALLY do. Look it up…

I am also getting tired of the Ghost of Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan tripled the national debt in eight years. Look it up…

If you want to make comparisons, compare Obama with Bush II, Clinton with Bush I or Bush II, or Reagan with Carter. I will take those comparisons any day. Look them up…

Lastly is Medicare, that Obama “stole” $700 billion from seniors. Wrong. He took $700 billion from doctors and insurance companies — cuts that both the medical and insurance communities agreed to. Why? Because they realized that applying those monies to people when they were younger would keep them from having more serious problems, and escalated claims, when they got older. The Affordable Healthcare act extends the life of Medicare by almost a decade. Those are the facts. Look them up…

How? Use snopes.com or factcheck.org.
You owe it to yourself, and you owe it to the country.

Carolyn

I just saw and read this. I wrote a column and turned it in yesterday (was working on it for a couple weeks) entitled Politics and the Pinocchio Complex before I even saw your column. Guess great minds think a like. ; )

I just saw and read this. I wrote a column and turned it in yesterday (was working on it for a couple weeks) entitled Politics and the Pinocchio Complex before I even saw your column. Guess great minds think a like. ; )

Tom

Thank you all for reading, and for the comments. I hope I will always be amazed that people read my stuff. Next week, the Boy Scouts are in my sights…

Prado

Thanks for the fact finding Chief. Interesting read, it’s 330am after getting back from a call….